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Fact Sheet |
The Blackfoot Way of Life
Backgrounder
The Blackfoot Way of Life: Nitsitapiisinni is a 650 square metre exhibition featuring more than 140 artifacts. Developed by the Glenbow Museum and the Blackfoot Confederacy, this exhibition illustrates the history and culture of the Blackfoot people through the following main themes.
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Weasel Tail, Blood community, 1927 Glenbow Archives NB 21-38 |
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The Blackfoot World
The Blackfoot believe that Ihtsi-pai-tapi-yopa, the Essence of All Life, put them in their part of the world and made all living things equal. This is why the Blackfoot would always ask plants, animals and rocks for permission before using them.
The Blackfoot people share the world with the Sky Beings (the sun, the moon and the stars), the Earth Beings (all the four-legged animals, the plants, the rocks and the earth itself) and the Water Beings (creatures such as fish, turtles, water birds, beaver, otter and muskrat).
Learning through Stories
Story-telling is an essential part of being Blackfoot. Ancient stories often explain how the people received the traditions that teach them the right way to live. Other stories recount the personal achievements of ancestors, giving individuals and their families a great source of pride. Elders also told stories as a way of offering advice and guidance. By symbolically painting personal stories on robes and tipis, the Blackfoot recorded them for everyone to see.
Living Together: The Traditional Camps
The Blackfoot people lived together in clans whose members were usually blood relations. They used tipis for shelter and travelled together in groups large enough for hunting and warfare, but small enough to survive when food was scarce. Each person contributed to the welfare of the camp. If anyone failed in his or her duties, the entire camp suffered and the group's survival was at risk. Camps were constantly on the move in order to be close to wood and water, to take advantage of edible roots and ripening berries, and to follow the migrating animals.
In each camp, people with charisma, experience, good judgement, eloquence and generosity would emerge as leaders. Blackfoot leaders listened carefully to everyone's advice and opinion so that their decisions reflected the consensus of all camp members. Clans would also select different leaders for particular situations, such as buffalo hunts, war parties and horse-raiding expeditions. Today, the Blackfoot people continue to value the traditional qualities of leadership.
Our Land Is Our Home
The Blackfoot see the land as their home. In the mountains, foothills, plains, rivers, and lakes, they could find everything they needed to survive. Of all the land's resources, the buffalo was by far the most important for the Blackfoot people. They used virtually every part of the animal: hides were cut and made into tipi covers or rawhide containers; bladders were used to carry water; tails became whisks for use in sweats; and horns were carved into spoons and ladles.
The traditional Blackfoot territory has many places Blackfoot people consider sacred. These are places tied to events described in the ancient stories that are at the heart of the Blackfoot culture.
Coexisting with Others
Long before the arrival of Europeans, the Blackfoot people were part of a continent-wide trading network that had existed for thousands of years. They would trade tanned buffalo hides and dried meat for stones, shell ornaments and food plants from other parts of the continent. Peace treaties would be made before the trading took place to ensure that the exchange was made in a spirit of goodwill.
The first fur traders came to the Blackfoot territory around 1730. In exchange for buffalo meat and furs, they gave the Blackfoot tobacco, guns, steel knives and arrowheads, blankets, cloth and ornaments. In the nineteenth century, traders wanted only tanned buffalo hides and offered primarily whiskey in exchange. The effect on the health and the social fabric of the Blackfoot people was disastrous. Europeans also brought with them new diseases, such as smallpox, which had a devastating effect on the population.
In this same period, immigrants arrived on the Plains in ever-increasing numbers. The governments of Canada and the United States each made a treaty with the Blackfoot in order to secure peace, safety and land for the immigrants. The Government of Canada passed the Indian Act in 1873, and by 1879, the buffalo had disappeared.
Taking Control
During the "Dark Years" of the 1880s to the 1970s, the Blackfoot people were forced to live on reserves and reservations in order to survive. They found life very difficult because they were no longer free to travel and hunt throughout the territory. The Blackfoot tried farming and ranching, but government regulations and harsh climatic conditions made an agricultural economy very hard to maintain. Despite these limitations some Blackfoot families became very successful farmers and ranchers.
Throughout history, the Blackfoot people have successfully confronted and surmounted dramatic events and changing circumstances that could have destroyed their culture and eliminated their entire population. Today, they are taking control of their own lives and their future, drawing on the deep resources of their traditional wisdom and culture to meet the challenges of the contemporary world.
Backgrounder | Exhibition themes | Communiqué
